An air sensor or a sensing element (as it is referred to in the following, for example, by the abbreviation Tlf) has the primary task of measuring the temperature of a sensor chip and to thus control the overtemperature of the air sensor diaphragm. The chip temperature in this case is in large measure a function of the temperature of the air passing through or over. Therefore, it is obvious to also use such an element as an air temperature sensor. However, such a sensor does not necessarily meet the requirements of an intake air temperature measurement, as is useful, for example, for measuring a temperature of air drawn in by an internal combustion engine. The causes for this lie with the narrow thermal coupling of the sensor to the plug-in sensor housing and to the high thermal time constant of the housing and of the sensor chip.